SOMEBODY help me...I'm struggling to think of a time when a Villa player was so crucial to England.

SOMEBODY help me...I'm struggling to think of a time when a Villa player was so crucial to England.

Because if Frank Lampard sneaks back in alongside Steven Gerrard against Russia next week, as Private Frazer used to say in Dad's Army: "We're doomed!"

Barry's place in central midfield should not even be open to question.

His simple, effortless style against Israel and Russia at Wembley, pinging five, 10 or 15-yard passes to white shirts without fail, may have been a million miles from the flamboyant but sometimes wasteful flicks and 30-yard attempts at goal of our Frank.

But the thing is, England ticked with Barry in the engine room.

And just because Joe Cole can be equally as profligate in possession down the left should not tempt Steve MacLaren to push Barry out wide, either.

Now here's my point: when was the last time Villa have had someone who grabbed the nation's attention thus?

Euro '96, undoubtedly, but in a positive manner I reckon we are going back to Italia '90.

Darius Vassell scorched to national fame with one friendly goal in Holland five years ago and went on to win 22 caps at Villa under Sven. But he only started six of those games.

Back in the 1980s, Villa were lucky enough to have Steve Hodge in their midfield. He won 11 caps at Villa Park, eight as a starter from his March 1986 debut in Tblisi against the USSR to his final game in November 1986 against Yugoslavia in Belgrade.

That was to include a memorable 3-0 win over Poland at the 1986 World Cup when his inclusion transformed a struggling Bobby Robson team, as he laid on one of Gary Lineker's hat-trick goals.

He also mis-hit a back-pass to Peter Shilton which led to Diego Maradona's Hand of God goal in the quarter-finals. Less said of that the better.

But Hodge's England career at Villa lasted just eight months before a £650,000 move to Tottenham.

Paul Merson? Nope. Only ever fleetingly in an Arsenal shirt did he shine and only won one cap while with Villa.

David James? Nope. Headline-grabbing, yes, but not as England's No.1. He won just three caps while at Villa, against Italy, Spain and Mexico as a sub.

Okay, a little further back then. Stan Collymore perhaps? Don't be crazy. Just the one cap. Against Moldova - and as a sub at that.

Kevin Richardson? One cap, against Greece. Earl Barratt? Just the two - mind you, they were against Brazil and Germany.

Tony Daley? Better, but still just the seven caps while at Villa Park and only four times a starter.

The key quartet in the club's best-ever side, Peter Withe (11), Gordon Cowans (8), Tony Morley (6) and Nigel Spink (1), only ever saw a handful of caps while at the club.

Gareth Southgate played 42 times for England while with Villa. And that's a club record Barry could easily surpass.

He made his debut as a substitute against Portugal in December 1995 when he headed against the crossbar after replacing Dennis Wise.

It was a time when England were creaking with aged limbs defensively with Gary Pallister and Mark Wright towards the end of their international careers.

Terry Vanables was searching for a long-term partner for Arsenal's Tony Adams, and quality replacements were thin on the ground with the likes of Newcastle's Steve Howey and Liverpool's Neil Ruddock quickly dispensed with while Tottenham had an up-and-coming starlet in Sol Campbell entering the mix.

Southgate booked a place at Euro '96 and played a central part in England's march to the semi-finals alongside Adams.

But crucially he missed 'that' penalty against Germany, which was to earn him a pizza advert but much grief for years to come.

Southgate went on to play in the World Cup in France in 1998, only to now be a second fiddle to Adams and Campbell.

And that is how it was to be for most of the failed Euro 2000 Championship finals in Belgium.

Despite the emergence of experienced players like Martin Keown and youngsters like Rio Ferdinand and Jonathan Woodgate, and the coming and going of England managers Howard Wilkinson, Peter Taylor, Kevin Keegan and Sven-Goran Eriksson, it is great credit to Southgate that he kept in the frame well beyond the friendly against Mexico at Derby in May 2001, the night he made his final England appearance while with Villa.

But is he an England treasure in the way Barry can be?

Then there is David Platt. He won seven of his first eight England caps under Bobby Robson as a substitute between November 1989 aganst Italy and the 1990 World Cup quarter-final against Cameroon in Naples.

Platt had been on the bench for all of England's group games, but was sent on as an extra time substitute in the second round game against Belgium. He responded by scoring a memorable volley on the turn in the very last minute of the extra period - his first goal for his country - sending England into the last eight.

With captain Bryan Robson suffering an injury, Platt started the next game - against Cameroon - and scored the opening goal in a 3-2 victory.

He also started the semi-final against West Germany which went to a penalty shoot-out after finishing 1-1.

Platt had a goal disallowed in extra-time, and scored England's third penalty.

Under his former club manager Graham Taylor he added another 11 caps to make it 22 while at Villa.

Platt was undoubtedly, and simultaneously, a Villa and England diamond. The pity was a year later he was playing in Italy for good, after a record £5.5million move to Bari.

One can only hope that with Barry's international career now in the ascendancy he is not similarly cherry-picked by the very rich.